Collapsible Gun Cleaning Kit

ABSTRACT

A novel, collapsible cleaning kit for guns.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to the design and construction of a novel,collapsible cleaning kit for guns.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Guns, including firearms such as rifles, shotguns and handguns, and nonfirearms such as CO2 guns and airguns, require occasional maintenance.Maintenance can include disassembly or routine cleaning of the gunbarrel and firing mechanisms. It is advantageous to have a stand whichis light, collapsible and thus portable yet the stand, when assembled,must be sturdy enough to withstand traverse and lateral stresses in thecourse of handling the gun for maintenance and cleaning. Particularly,stress is placed upon a cleaning stand along the axis of the gun barrelas a cleaning rod is drawn through the gun barrel, requiring each gunsupport to withstand these stresses without buckling or collapsing.

Various portable cleaning stands are disclosed in the prior art. U.S.Pat. No. 5,058,302 entitled “Shooter's Portable Maintenance Center”describes a rectangular tray having gun support forks attachable to therectangular tray and storage compartments within the tray. U.S. Pat. No.4,873,777 entitled “Press Fit Gun Cradle for Firearm Maintenance andRepair” describes a base with two opposing gun support arms press-fitinto the base. A centrally located well acts as a tray for temporarystorage of miscellaneous items. U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,613 entitled “RifleSupport” describes a hinged box with opposing ends extending upward intorifle support arms. It does not appear from the drawings, specificationor claims that the support arms are moveable or hingable, as theysimultaneously constitute the end portions of the storage box.

Many stands of the prior art incorporate opposing gun support arms and atray or well to hold miscellaneous items. The prior art however, failsto provide a traverse support to impart axial stability on the supportarms. The prior art also requires a base which is manufactured to acceptpress-fit or attachable support arms, resulting both in increasedmanufacturing efforts but reducing the axial and traverse stability ofthe support arms to support provided at their base.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention describes a portable, collapsible gun stand forpositioning a rifle or similar long barreled gun in the horizontalposition for maintenance, service and/or cleaning. The present inventionutilizes fairly conventional support means, supporting the rifle alongthe bottom edge of its stock and/or barrel. The invention incorporatessubdivided trays to contain various parts, tools and cleaning supplies.

Novelty of the design is the manner in which the kit collapses fortransport or storage, with each gun support supported on its outer faceby the interior of each box short side and folding inward to rest on thebottom. In the upright position, the gun supports are supported on theirinner face and held in position by a traverse support. The use of thetraverse support in combination with the support afforded by theinterior of each short side allows the gun supports to be constructed ofthinner, lighter material, thereby reducing costs of manufacture,reducing bulk and reducing weight. Furthermore, the integral nature ofthe gun supports with the box side and bottom portions reduces the needfor manufacturing of slots to contain the support arms. In otherembodiments wherein the gun supports are formed integral with a boxshort side or box bottom, manufacturing costs are further reduced as isthe possibility of parts loss and setup of the gun supports issimplified. In other embodiments, the use of multiple traverse supportsincreases support stability and traverse supports dimensioned to contactthe gun further stabilize the gun from movement during maintenanceoperations and particularly those cleaning operations wherein a cleaningrod is drawn through the barrel, producing axial stresses which tend tomove guns on their support platforms. Due to the use of lightweightmaterials, including but not limited to cardstock and cardboard, theproposed invention may also incorporate gun supports formed integralwith the box bottom or box short sides, increasing the stability andsupport of the kit even more while reducing again the possibility oflost kit parts. This same use of materials also offers the opportunityto form the box and cover of a single material, the box and cover formedintegral and hinged as appropriate to create the invention, againincreasing stability while reducing the possibility of lost kit parts.

This is all in contrast with the many gun supports currently on themarket which incorporate more parts and thicker, heavier plastics andmetals to adequately support the rifle, without allowing the rifle tomove while being serviced. This is also in contrast with the prior art'sneed to machine or manufacture slots or other mechanical means to holdsupport arms in an operable position while failing to adequately providefor axial and lateral stresses on the supports.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded view of one embodiment of the collapsible guncleaning kit according to the embodiments described and claimed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Shown in FIG. 1 is an exploded view of one embodiment of the collapsiblegun cleaning kit utilizing a single traverse support and non-hinged gunsupports and a non-hinged top. The rectangular box (10) is defined by abottom (1), two long opposing sides (2) and two short opposing sides(4). Each short side interior (6) acts as an outside support for gunsupports (14) when said gun supports are raised into position. The boxmay be divided by use of partitions (8) extending between said bottomand said sides defining storage areas.

Gun supports (14) include a bottom portion (14 a) and a top portion (14b), the top portion dimensioned for receiving a section of a gun stockor gun barrel, and said bottom portion being dimensioned to fit withinthe box dimensions defined by the two opposed long sides, or by oneopposing long side and an opposing partition wall. The gun supports (14)further include opposing facing vertically cut slots (20) for receivinga traverse support (16). The interior face of one gun support depictedin FIG. 1 is not shown but contains a slot (20) identical to that shownin the opposing gun support (14). While FIG. 1 depicts a each gunsupport shown with a single slot (20), alternative embodiments mayutilized multiple slots (20) to accept multiple traverse supports (16)for increased support stability. The traverse support (16) isdimensioned to fit within said slots (20)and between said opposing gunsupports (14). The traverse support is removable as are the gun supportsand all are dimensioned so as to fit within the space defined by saidrectangular box when disassembled for portability and storage. The kitfurther includes a cover (18) defined by a top (24), two opposed longsides (26), and two opposed short sides (28), dimensioned to fit oversaid rectangular box.

1. A collapsible gun support, comprising: a rectangular box defined by abottom, two opposed long sides, and two opposed short sides; a pair ofremovable gun supports including a bottom portion and a top portion, thetop portion dimensioned for receiving a section of a gun stock or gunbarrel, and said bottom portion being dimensioned to fit within the boxdimensions defined by the two opposed long sides, said gun supportsfurther including opposing facing vertically cut slots for receiving atraverse support; a removable traverse support dimensioned to fit withinsaid slots; said gun supports and traverse support dimensioned to fitwithin the space defined by said rectangular box when disassembled; anda cover defined by a top, two opposed long sides, and two opposed shortsides, dimensioned to fit over said rectangular box.
 2. A collapsiblegun support as defined in claim 1, further including partitionsextending between said bottom and said sides defining storage areas. 3.A collapsible gun support as defined in claim 1, further including twoor more traverse supports dimensioned to fit between gun supports.
 4. Acollapsible gun support as defined in claim 1, further including atraverse support dimensioned to fit between gun supports, said traversesupport dimensioned to contact a gun when said gun is placed on said gunsupports.
 5. A collapsible gun support as defined in claim 1, furtherincluding two or more traverse supports dimensioned to fit between gunsupports, said traverse supports dimensioned to contact a gun when saidgun is placed on said gun supports.
 6. A collapsible gun support asdefined in claim 1, wherein said gun supports are hingeably attached tosaid box wherein said gun supports may fold down to fit within the boxdimensions when not in use and fold up into position adjacent aninterior wall of each opposing short side.
 7. A collapsible gun supportas defined in claim 6, wherein said hingeably attached gun supports areformed integral with said box bottom.
 8. A collapsible gun support asdefined in claim 6, wherein each hingeably attached gun support isformed integral with a box short side.
 9. A collapsible gun support asdefined in claim 1, wherein said cover is hingeably attached to saidbox.
 10. A collapsible gun support as defined in claim 1, wherein saidcover is formed integral to said box.